Jay Reatard Attacked by Fans

Austin show ends with two arrests

Last night, Memphis garage punk Jay Reatard was finishing up his set at the Austin club Emo's when two audience members rushed the stage and attacked him. Never one to shy away from confrontation, Reatard fought back with his mic stand. The set ended early, and police arrested the two fans after the show. (Thanks to Ethan Bachrach for the tip.) Austin 360 offered this account of the disturbance:

"While the set had all the makings of a fun night of pop-punk, it was sadly abridged at only 40 minutes-- less than the opening performance by Austin's own Harlem-- after two rowdy fans attacked Reatard on-stage shortly after he announced he was playing the night's final song. He retaliated by swinging his microphone stand and departed mid-song, giving the at-times rambunctious audience the finger as he exited the stage. There was to be no encore-- the lights went up and the PA music kicked in as the two intruding fans were arrested by police outside the club's Sixth Street entrance."

At least the two attackers had the courtesy to wait until the show was just about over!

UPDATE: Reatard's publicist offers this information about the incident. "Jay was attacked, totally unprovoked, by two different people, both of whom were later arrested. One guy bolted onstage and came swinging at Jay, but security took him away pretty quickly. Soon after (the band hadn't stopped playing, by the way), another guy sprinted onstage and hit Jay. Unlike the first guy, Jay didn't even see this guy coming. So Jay defended himself with the mic stand until security took that guy away, too. Jay is safe and unhurt, and the cops were there for about an hour afterwards. The two guys were arrested, but I'm not sure exactly what the formal charges were or where they are now."